1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of creating and displaying images over a large computer network, and in particular, creating and displaying images including pop-up images.
2. Description of Related Art
The global interconnection of computers and computer networks is commonly referred to as the Internet. The Internet is a collection of smaller wide area and local area computer networks connected together thereby allowing the sharing of resources and facilitating data communication between computers and users. Graphical user interfaces called browsers allows users easy access to network servers and computers connected to the Internet and, in particular, the World Wide Web (WWW).
As a subset of the Internet, the WWW includes a collection of servers, computers, and other devices. Each server connected to the WWW may contain documents formatted as web pages or hypertext documents that are accessible and viewable with a browser utilizing hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) such as Netscape Navigator, MOSAIC or Microsoft Internet Explorer, for example. Hypertext documents often contain hypertext links to other hypertext documents which can be accessed from the first hypertext document by activating the hypertext links. The term link refers to a selectable reference to another electronic document. Links are sometimes referred to as hot links, which when activated by clicking on them accesses the referenced electronic document or another document.
Hypertext documents, files, web pages or banners generally contain text, graphics, images, sound, and/or video, for example, and are generally written in a standard page or hypertext document description language known as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). Using an HTML format, a web developer can specify the location and presentation of text, graphics, images, sound and video on the screen displayed to the user accessing the web page. Furthermore, a primary HTML document can be provided with a frame therein for permitting the display of secondary images within such a frame. For example, a banner advertisement can be displayed in a frame located within a primary HTML document. The image within the frame is essentially a miniature web page that can be scrolled, printed, or operated upon in substantially any other manner normally possible when operating upon primary HTML documents. This type of frame within a document is referred to as an iframe.
It is known in the art to provide a flash image or pop-up image wherein an associated flash image or pop-up image is displayed to the user when the user activates it, for example, by movement of an indicator on the primary HTML document. However, it is not possible to activate such an associated image by movement of an indicator on a primary document when the primary document is displayed within an iframe.
HTML format also allows a web page to contain links, such as the hypertext links described above, to other web pages or servers on the Internet. By selecting a link, a user can be transferred to the new web page which may be at a different geographical or topological location from the original web page.
Each server and file used to display a web page has a unique Universal or Uniform Resource Locator (URL) address associated with it. Using a conventional browser a user can select the web page or hypertext document using its URL address. Upon entering a URL address into a browser, for example the user's microprocessor-based device, such as a personal computer, establishes a connection with the web page or hypertext document. The initial web page or hypertext document is transmitted from the server storing this web page or hypertext document to the user's microprocessor-based device and is displayed thereon. It should be understood that in addition to personal computers, other suitable microprocessor based devices such as portable computers, Internet ready cellular phones, personal digital assistants and Internet appliances can also communicate with servers using the Internet.
A web page can include a number of graphic images or elements, often referred to as banners, which are displayed in conjunction with the web page, often in a top portion of the page. These graphic images are typically stored as separate files on the same or different server, and also have associated URL addresses. When a web page is initially transmitted from a server to a user's microprocessor and based device, the graphic images or banners are provided to the user as part of the page.
Easy access to the WWW and the ability to create aesthetically pleasing web pages have increased the amount of advertising and other promotional material created for and displayed on web pages. For example, a clothing manufacturer may have a web page describing the company and the clothing and accessories that the company manufactures and sells. A portion of the web page may include advertising information or banners that include images of the latest fashions sold by the manufacturer or the sizes and amount of clothing articles the manufacturer has in stock. The clothing manufacturer may also contract with the owners or operators of other web pages to provide advertisement banners displaying the clothing manufacturer's goods.
Personal computers generally include a system unit, a video display terminal, a keyboard, and a mouse. Generally, a mouse includes one or more buttons typically located on the top of the mouse. The mouse is commonly used as a relative pointing device. By moving the mouse across a flat surface, the user can control movement of a mouse pointer as seen on the video display terminal.
A mouse or other input pointer device is displayed as a cursor or indicator, e.g., a small arrow or other symbol, on the video display terminal that moves as the user moves the mouse or other pointing device. The area of the screen where the mouse pointer appears can serve as a target for action. To select items or to choose commands displayed on a video display terminal traditionally requires that the user manipulate the mouse or other device to place the pointer or the cursor proximate to the desired target, and press one or more mouse buttons or other actuators to produce a “click” to indicate some action. One skilled in the art will recognize the difference between clicking and dragging a mouse button. The term “click” refers to the act of pressing a mouse button down and then immediately releasing it. The term “drag” refers to pressing and holding the mouse button down while moving the mouse and not releasing the button. The phrase “to click on” means to select an object displayed on the video display terminal by moving the mouse pointer to the position of the object and clicking a mouse button.
In a conventional web page, if a user clicks on a banner, a new web page is generally displayed on the user's browser. Each web page may contain similar links to other web pages, hypertext documents, and websites, for example. Activating a link available on a banner in this manner provides the user with an ability to navigate or move to and display or download different documents, pages, banners, sites, or other information via the computer network. Thus, when the user places the graphical representation of a cursor over a desired link, and clicks one of the mouse buttons at the link, the user can go to an alternate site.
As set forth, to activate a hot link in a banner in traditional applications and programs users must click on the banner to arrive at another website. As known to those skilled in the art, many users ignore suggestions that appear on banners such as click here or click now. The fact that many users do not click on these banners may be attributed to apprehension that they will arrive at an unknown or undesired website, or that they cannot return to the website from which they came. The present invention provides a method by which a user no longer needs to click on the banner to determine the nature of the website that is indicated by the link.